The Renaissance

The Renaissance was a period of commercial, financial, political, and cultural achievement from 1300 to about The northern Italian cities led the commercial revival, especially Venice, Genoa, and Milan. –Venice had a huge merchant marine; improvements in shipbuilding enhanced trade. –These cities became the crossroads between northern Europe and the East. The first artistic and literary flowerings of the Renaissance appeared in Florence. –Florentine mercantile families dominated European banking. –The wool industry was the major factor in the city's financial expansion and population increase.

Renaissance Video Part 1

Renaissance video Part 2

Northern Italian cities were communes-- associations of free men seeking independence from the local lords. –The nobles, attracted by the opportunities in the cities, often settled there and married members of the mercantile class, forming an urban nobility. –The popolo, or middle class, was excluded from power. –Popolo led republican governments failed, which led to the rule of despots (signori) or oligarchies. –In the fifteenth century, the princely courts of the rulers were centers of wealth and art.

The balance of power among the Italian city states Italy had no political unity; it was divided into city states such as Milan, Venice, and Florence, the Papal States, and a kingdom of Naples in the south. The political and economic competition among the city states prevented centralization of power. Shifting alliances among the city states led to the creation of permanent ambassadors. After 1494 a divided Italy became a European battleground.

Politics and the Prince

Intellectual hallmarks of the Renaissance Many, like the poet and humanist Petrarch, saw the fourteenth century as a new golden age and a revival of ancient Roman culture. Individualism –Literature specifically concerned with the nature of individuality emerged. –Renaissance people believed in individual will and genius.

Humanism Italians collected ancient manuscripts and monuments, and copied the ancient Roman lifestyle. The study of the classics led to humanism, an emphasis on human beings. –Humanists sought to understand human nature through a study of pagan and classical authors and Christian thought. –The humanist writer Pico della Mirandola believed that there were no limits to what human beings could accomplish. Ancient Latin style was considered superior to medieval Latin.

Secular spirit Secularism means a concern with materialism rather than religion. Unlike medieval people, Renaissance people were concerned with money and pleasure. –In On Pleasure, Lorenzo Valla defended the pleasure of the senses as the highest good. –In the Decameron, Boccaccio portrayed an acquisitive and worldly society. The church did little to combat secularism; in fact, many popes were Renaissance patrons and participants--and the church even gave up its opposition to usury.

Art and power In the early Renaissance, powerful urban groups commissioned works of art, which remained overwhelmingly religious. In the later fifteenth century, individuals and oligarchs began to sponsor works of art as a means of self glorification.

Wealthy people began to spend less on warfare and more on art and architecture. –At first the bed chamber room was the most important, but later many other rooms were even more decorated. –The home's private chapel was the most elaborate and expensive.

As the century advanced, art became more and more secular, and classical subjects became popular. –The style of art changed in the fifteenth century. –The individual portrait emerged as a distinct genre. –Painting and sculpture became more naturalistic and realistic, and the human body was glorified, as in the work of the sculptors Donatello and Michelangelo. –A new "international style" emphasized color, decorative detail, and curvilinear rhythms. –In painting, the use of perspective was pioneered by Brunelleschi and della Francesca.

The status of the artist –The status of the artist improved during the Renaissance; most work was done by commission from a prince. –The creative genius of the artist was recognized and rewarded. –The Renaissance was largely an elitist movement; Renaissance culture did not directly affect the middle classes or the urban working class.

Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa

Michelangelo Statue of David

Michelango’s Creation of Man

Creation of the Sun and Moon

Raphael Madonna and Child

School of Athens

Artists of the Renaissance

Education and political thought Humanists were interested in education, particularly the training of rulers, and moral behavior. Vergerio wrote a treatise on education that stressed the teaching of history, ethics, and rhetoric (public speaking). Castiglione's The Courtier, which was widely read, described the model Renaissance gentleman as a man of many talents, including intellectual and artistic skills. Machiavelli's The Prince described how to acquire, maintain, and increase political power. Machiavelli believed that the politician should manipulate people and use any means to gain power. Machiavelli did not advocate amoral behavior but believed that political action cannot be governed by moral considerations.

Niccolo Machiavelli

The printed word –The invention in 1455 of movable type by Gutenberg, Fust, and Schöffer made possible the printing of a wide variety of texts. –Printing transformed the lives of Europeans by making propaganda possible, encouraging a wider common identity, and improving literacy.

Johannes Gutenberg

Women and work in Renaissance society –Most women married, were responsible for domestic affairs, and frequently worked outside the home. –Women worked in ship building, textiles, agriculture, as well as midwives and servants. –Compared to women in the previous age, the status of upper class women declined during the Renaissance. –The Renaissance did not include women in the general improvement of educational opportunities. Women were expected to use their education solely to run a household.

Isabella d’este ruled Mantua after her husband’s death. She was well educated thanks to her father.

Sofonisba Anguisolla self-portrait

Slaves and ethnicity in Renaissance society Enslavement of Slavic peoples in eastern Europe was common--as Germans and others enslaved and/or sold Polish and Bohemian people. Italians brought many white slaves to Europe by way of the Mediterranean. Beginning in the fifteenth century, black slaves were brought into Europe in large numbers. Black slavery in Europe appears to have been less harsh than that in America.

Some black rulers in Africa adopted a European lifestyle and participated in selling their people into European slavery. Blacks as slaves and freemen filled a variety of positions, from laborers to dancers and actors and musicians. In the Renaissance, black slaves were displayed as signs of wealth.

The Renaissance in the north began in the last quarter of the fifteenth century It was more Christian than the Renaissance in Italy, and it stressed social reform based on Christian ideals. Christian humanists sought to create a more perfect world by combining the best elements of classical and Christian cultures. –Humanists like Lefèvre believed in the use of the Bible by common people. –Thomas More, the author of Utopia, believed that society, not people, needed improving.

The Dutch monk Erasmus best represents Christian humanism in his emphasis on education as the key to a moral and intellectual improvement and inner Christianity.

Northern art and architecture were more religious than in Italy and less influenced by classical themes and motifs. –Van Eyck painted realistic works with attention to human personality. –Bosch used religion and folk legends as themes. –The city halls of northern Europe were grand architectural monuments.